With Publisher Dan and senior advocate Sandy Lewis by her side, Rana signs and files the 1st Guardianship Nomination Form with the Secretary of State.
Vegas Voice readers who have followed my Soapbox column know that I have spent many years advocating for seniors who have, for one reason or another, run afoul of the guardianship laws in Nevada.
Publisher Dan and I began this odyssey with a successful attempt to change several laws regarding guardianship. I admit the guardianship scandal became an obsession with me,
Why? Because each time I met people trapped in the quagmire of guardianship I would think about my parents (who both passed away prior to my indoctrination into guardianship). I would always wonder what I would have done if that was happening to either of them.
I previously advised that we shouldn’t think that this senior guardianship abuse only comes from strangers. Sadly it also comes from those we expect the least to try and harm us – our own children.
Several years ago, I received a phone call from a friend and neighbor whose son and daughter had filed papers with the court asking for guardianship over her.
My friend owned rental properties in our Sun City community, was unbelievably involved socially with many prominent people in Las Vegas and always looked like “a million dollars” when she went out on the town.
So active was her life here, I remember writing that, in my opinion, if her adult children succeeded in Guardianship court and forced her to move against her wishes to an assisted living complex in California, she would soon die.
How can you take someone away from all the friends and business connections she had right here for more than the 20 years and involuntarily move her to where she knew no one?
Long story short, in spite of weeks of long hearings (with really expensive lawyers and attorneys’ fees) in Judge Linda Marquis’ court room filled with friends and witnesses testifying to the mental health, business acumen, and unbelievable social connections here, the judge granted the daughter’s petition. Suddenly my friend was gone.
I tried many times, without success, to find her. The only contact we had was an occasional passing note on Facebook and then without any notice, she from there too.
I started asking around to see if other neighbors might have heard from her, seen her, anything at all. And then I received the news that “Oh I thought you knew, she passed away a few months ago.”
Over the past few years, most of the emails I received asking for help are not from seniors facing the wrath of a “Private Guardian April Parks type of taking” but rather from people claiming to care – family members fighting other family members trying to lock up Mom or Dad so they can control “the keys to the kingdom.”
Now I know your response: “This will never happen to me. My adult children would never do such a horrible thing.” And I hope you’re right.
But would it hurt you to spend 5 minutes to fill out the guardianship nomination form?
This form was passed into Nevada law several years ago. It allows you to name the person you want to be your guardian should the need arise. Family court must honor that form and allow the person chosen by you to be guardian should there ever be an issue.
The best part is that you, and only you can make changes to the form.
